In 1968, a small, dilapidated American spy ship set out on a
dangerous mission to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North
Korea. Packed with advanced surveillance equipment and classified
intelligence documents, the USS Pueblo was poorly armed and lacked
backup by air or sea. Its crew, led by a charismatic, hard-drinking
ex–submarine officer named Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested sailors
in their teens and twenties.

On a frigid January morning while eavesdropping near the
port of Wonsan, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat.
When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more patrol
boats, shelled and machine-gunned, and forced to surrender. One American was
killed and ten wounded, and Bucher and his young crew were taken prisoner by
one of the world’s most aggressive and erratic totalitarian regimes.

Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo’s
capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South
Korea’s president in downtown Seoul. Together the two explosive incidents
pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint as both North and South Korea
girded for war—with fifty thousand American soldiers caught between them. President
Lyndon Johnson rushed US combat ships and aircraft to reinforce South Korea,
while secretly trying to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Act of War tells
the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless
torture and horrendous living conditions in North Korean prisons. Based on
extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the
Freedom of Information Act, this book also reveals new details of Johnson’s
high-risk gambit to prevent war from erupting on the Korean peninsula while his
negotiators desperately tried to save the sailors from possible execution. A
dramatic tale of human endurance set against the backdrop of an international
diplomatic poker game, Act of War offers lessons on the perils of covert
intelligence operations as America finds itself confronting a host of
twenty-first-century enemies.

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Quotes & Awards

“Sweeping in its power and importance as a
historical document and absolutely riveting in its personal stories of
sacrifice and heroism, Act of War is the best kind of
narrative nonfiction. From the halls of power in Washington to the heaving seas
of the Pacific and to the cold, stark torture rooms of Pyongyang, this book
leaves no stone unturned. This is a masterwork by Jack Cheevers. I devoured Act
of War the way I did Flyboys, Flags of our Fathers, and Lost in Shangri-la.”

Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“A riveting, superbly-researched, and revealing
account of a Cold War clash at sea between the United States and North Korea—and
of the courageous captain of the Pueblo, who stood up both to his
brutal captors and to the Navy brass who tried to make him a scapegoat to cover
up their own failures.”

David Wise, New York Times bestselling author

“Cheevers skillfully brings to life one of the
most dramatic events of the Cold War, a story of torture, imprisonment, secret
negotiations, and White House deal-making. Today, the Pueblo remains the
only commissioned US ship on display as a war trophy by a foreign government. Act
of War sheds new light on how that happened, and at the same time it shows
how quickly espionage, and miscalculation, can lead to all-out war.”

James Bamford, New York Times bestselling author

“Cheevers (former political reporter, Los Angeles Times) paints a vivid picture of the harrowing experiences the sailors faced before, during, and after their stint in a North Korean prison…The author’s access to personal interviews, large amounts of government documents, as well as news reports on the incident, allows readers to experience this event from the Pueblo’s viewpoint and beyond. Readers who appreciate intense accounts of survival against difficult circumstances will find this book enthralling.”

Library Journal (starred review)

“An outstanding and necessary recounting of an affair that should remind us how dangerous the regime of North Korea remains.”

Booklist (starred review)

“Journalist Cheevers combines interviews with recently released government documents to tell the story of a slipshod operation that nearly led to the crew’s execution and a return to war footing with Korea…Cheever’s account of ‘false assumptions, negligent planning...excessive risk taking’ is a useful reminder in today’s world of surveillance and diplomatic brinksmanship.”

Publishers Weekly

“Readers who assume that North Korea’s reputation as an international nut case is a recent development must read this painful account of its 1968 seizure of the USS Pueblo and abuse of its crew…Although the crew behaved reasonably well under terrible conditions, this is a story where dimwits and villains dominate, and Cheevers does a fine job of rescuing from obscurity a painful Cold War debacle.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Jack Cheevers is not only a terrific researcher
but a master storyteller. Act of War reads like a Cold War
thriller—I couldn’t put it down.”

James Scott, award-winning author of The War Below

“With vivid clarity, Cheevers tells the amazing
story of the capture of the Pueblo and its crew—one of many
dangerous showdowns between North Korea and the US. A fascinating,
well-rendered account of a little known episode in the ongoing conflict on the
Korean peninsula.”

Sheila Miyoshi Jager, author of Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea

“A fitting tribute to the Pueblo crew,
a timely reminder of the nature of the North Korean regime (now developing
nuclear weapons), and, not least, a great read.”

Jack F. Matlock, Jr., US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987-91, and author of Reagan and Gorbachev

“Using a trove of declassified CIA materials and
interviews, Cheevers provides a valuable new addition to our understanding of
what happened in January 1968 when the North Koreans attacked and captured the
USS Pueblo.”

Larry Berman, author of Zumwalt: The Life and Times of Admiral Elmo Russell “Bud” Zumwalt, Jr.

Listener Reviews

" I'm familiar with the general story of the USS Pueblo. However, I haven't read in detail on it. This book is well researched and presents a full picture not just of what happened to the men taken as POWs, but also the political maneuvering that led to the capture and to the release of the victims. These men were victims of their own government as well as victims of the North Korean government. If they had been given the resources to do the job correctly, this fracas could have been avoided. "

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